


A quiet moment of Reflection

by LynnyB



Category: Miss Scarlet and the Duke (TV 2020)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29898450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynnyB/pseuds/LynnyB
Summary: SPOILER ALERT: This contain Massive spoilers for Season 1 Episode 6! Don't read if you've not seen this episode yetA quiet moment between Eliza and William after all the drama of episode 5 and 6
Relationships: Eliza Scarlet/William "Duke" Wellington
Kudos: 26





	A quiet moment of Reflection

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I don't usually write one shots, mainly because I'm never sure I'm very good at them, but this is just a small missing scene from near the end of Episode 6 that was in my head and would not go away till I wrote it down. It just felt like Eliza and William needed a moment of quiet reflection after all the drama of Episodes 5 and 6…. so here it is…. This is a total spoiler for the end of Season 1, so please don't read on if you've not seen all 6 Episodes.

A quiet moment of reflection

William stood up from the armchair and crossed Eliza's drawing room reluctantly with his hand in his trouser pocket.

"Thank you," He said firmly and slightly indignantly to Moses, before turning round and giving Eliza a look that said he'd done what she'd asked, and that was the best she was getting.

She thought for a moment about pushing her luck and telling William he should give Moses a lift home, but she considered he'd probably had enough punishment for one night.

Moses stood still in the doorway of the drawing room as he gave Eliza an impressed smile and she returned it while William wasn't looking at either of them.

"I'll show you out Moses." Eliza offered, getting up from her seat and following him out the drawing room, leaving William slightly dejected in her armchair. William might not have apologised to Moses, but she felt she had made her point. Moses wasn't an angel, but he wasn't a bad person either.

William watched the two of them leaving the room, while he stewed in his own anger and annoyance. He was livid at the idea that he somehow owed Moses something for supposedly saving his life. He knew he would have figured a way out of that situation if he'd had to.

"Thank you, for everything," Eliza told Moses honestly, as they walked up the few steps from the drawing room and through the hallway to the front door.

"I appreciate your help tonight, and for the information about Nathanial's brother," she smiled sincerely.

"You certainly have a way Miss Scarlett," Moses laughed, with his Jamaican twang. He had never known anyone quite like her.

"You have a good evening Miss." He tipped his hat at her, nodding his goodbye, before heading out into the darkness of the late night.

Eliza smiled to herself shutting the door behind Moses. She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the tirade she was likely to receive from William when she went back into her drawing room. Both for turning up at Frank's and for making him apologise to Moses.

"Well that wasn't humiliating at all," William remarked irritably, as she walked back into the drawing room. He was now sat back comfortably, one arm resting out along the back of the chair, his broken hand resting on his lap.

"It was the right thing to do and you know it," she quipped quickly back, serious but with a half smile teasing him.

"If you say so."

There was no use arguing with her right now, and he felt too exhausted to as well. His eyes followed her as she walked across the room towards him.

Slowly, she resumed her place on the armchair next to him, though this time she sat back against the back of the chair and turned slightly facing William. She relaxed herself, sitting rather more comfortably then she was when Moses with them.

"Are you okay?" She asked slowly, looking at him with genuine concern, noting how tired and beaten he looked.

"I don't know what I am…" he shrugged and sighed. "I'm mad, angry, upset, hurt, and everything in-between."

He wouldn't look at her and she could hear the defeated tone in his voice, like he couldn't believe the turn of events that the evening had taken. He clearly hadn't had time to fully process everything that had happened that night yet.

"Frank was your friend…" Eliza said calmly.

"Some friend…" he sighed gruffly. "How did I not see it?"

He still couldn't believe that Frank was apart of the forgery gang. That he'd killed Henry and Sterling, killed all the men involved in the gang, or that he was even fully prepared to kill him tonight.

Though looking back everything made sense. How Frank had distracted him with the lie about Moses, knew that Sterling would have wanted to beat him to the gang, giving Frank the opportunity to kill and frame him. He certainly would have known that having Eliza work on the case would be even more of a distraction to him. The more he thought about the lengths Frank had gone to, the more his anger boiled inside of him.

"I didn't either," Eliza offered, though it was probably little consolation. She had never liked Frank, not even for a moment.

"I worked with him, day in day out, for years… I should have seen this," William's annoyance was evident as he spoke.

"This isn't your fault and you musn't blame yourself."

Eliza reached forward and touched his broken hand, but he still wouldn't look at her. She knew her father wouldn't want him to think any of this was his fault, but there was also nothing that she could say right now that would make him feel any better.

"And what were you thinking, coming in like that?" He finally asked angrily. It had taken a few minutes, but here was the argument she'd been expecting.

"Frank could have killed you Eliza. What were you even doing there in the first place?" Finally he looked at her, fixing her with one of his hard stares. Now he was cross and perhaps he had good reason to be angry.

When Tilly Hildegard had told her about seeing a policeman creeping round her house that morning, Eliza's first thought was that it was William she was talking about. She was confused when Tilly said it was the other one. What other one?

The other officer was the one Tilly had seen arriving with William and Eliza at her office that morning. When she realised Tilly was talking about Frank, she was instantly disgusted that Tilly thought she was involved with him, but suddenly everything had all fitted together, Frank was somehow apart off the gang. He had to be the inside man. That could be the only reason the gang were one step ahead of them.

She'd sent Ivy back with Rupert for safety, and gone straight to Scotland Yard to find William, but when she arrived the Desk Sargent said he'd gone to the Tavern. When she looked for him there one of the officers told her she'd just missed him and he was taking Frank home.

She knew William might have been in trouble, so she got Frank's address and asked a street boy to get a note to Moses to meet her there. She had planned to wait for Moses to arrive but really she had no choice when she heard through the door Frank threatening that he needed to kill William.

"I heard him tell you that he had to get rid of you, what was I supposed to do, let him shoot you?" she reasoned, but William was clearly not impressed.

"Point one, you had no idea though that door that he had a gun on me, and point two, putting yourself in front of a gun, again, and him killing both of us was preferable to you?"

"I knew Moses would be there," she shrugged.

Moses was far better at time keeping then William was, that was for sure. Okay, so knocking on the door when she did was a spur of the moment decision, and her only plan was to keep Frank talking long enough for Moses to turn up. Still, that was better then the alternative.

"And if he hadn't turned up when he did?" William asked pointedly.

Eliza didn't want to think about that. There was no saying what could have happened had Moses not arrived when did. She was under no illusion that despite the smell of alcohol on Frank, he would have easily pulled the trigger on both guns without a second of hesitation.

"Well what was your plan to get yourself out of there. He was pointing both guns at you!" Eliza deflected back to William.

"I'd have thought of something… firstly, I knew how drunk he was and how bad he can be in a fight when he's drunk, and secondly he wouldn't have killed me in that room… He'd at least want me somewhere he could have got rid of the body, probably walked me to the Thames or something…"

Eliza shivered at the very thought, and shook her head. This was not a topic of conversation she wanted to have.

"You are not allowed to die William!" she interrupted sternly, giving him a glare of her own back.

Suddenly, William stopped and softened his gaze that was fixed on her and he took a moment to take in her words. That it almost sounded like she truly cared about him.

He noted that she was still resting her hand on top of his, so he slowly moved to take a firmer grip and gently rubbed circles on the top of her hand with his thumb.

He was testing what she would do, holding her hand like that. She made no move to pull her hand away from him. He saw her drop her eyes from his face to their hand, so she clearly knew what he was doing. Why did she have to be so confusing all the damn time?

"I shall try my upmost not to," he finally answered gently. A small smile appeared on his face, at the thought that just maybe she might care.

He looked at her, studying her eyes, and for a brief moment she too looked up and held his glance. It was just for a brief moment, before she looking away as she always did when he looked at her like that. She stared at the floor, lost her own in thoughts, while he kept his gaze on her face.

Was he crazy, William wondered? Was there something more between them? Or was he imaging how she looked at him sometimes. How she'd touched his hand the other morning, in this very drawing room. Did she feel what he felt in their quieter moments? His arm was still resting along the back of the chair, he could so easily have moved to rest it around her, or pulled her in towards him.

"Why didn't my father tell you what he was working on?" She finally asked him quietly, interrupting his thoughts about her.

It had been bothering her since they discovered Nathanial at the prison, and he'd told her that she had a kind face like her father. Surely he would have known William could have helped him. Maybe he'd still be alive if he had told William what he'd discovered. Then again, maybe it would have killed them both, and then she truly would have been alone.

"Henry always liked to figure things out for himself first. He didn't always like to involve me until he knew for sure what he was dealing with. He might not have known enough to tell me anything concrete. I mean, other then Woolwich prison and Cell 99, there was nothing in his journal to suggest he'd figured anything out. No names or suggestions that Frank or anyone else who might have been involved. There wasn't even a mention of it being a forgery gang…."

"He knew enough for Frank to kill him," she told him firmly.

William could hear the anger in her voice, that perhaps she was just as angry at it all as he was. Henry was her father after all. He'd lost his closest friend, and the only father figure he'd known. She had lost her actual father. She had more right to feel hurt then did, he reasoned.

"Look, even if Henry had told me, we don't know that the end result would have been any different," William finally offered.

"God, my father could be so stubborn," she muttered irritably, silently cursing him.

"Yeah," William laughed, breaking the tension in the room. "I wonder where you get it from…?" His eyes narrowed on her as he chuckled.

Eliza smirked and gave him a glare. For a moment she thought about a response, but for once let it go. She had practically handed him that one on silver a platter.

"I thought…. This would make me feel better," she finally admitted. "You know, figuring this all out. Bringing whoever killed my father to justice."

"I know." William agreed softly. "It doesn't though. It never does."

"It won't bring him back," she said sadly.

"No, it won't… But we got Frank, and he will pay." She could hear the determination in William's voice. "I promise ya."

She couldn't lie, the thought that Frank would get what he deserved did make her feel marginally better. Frank would hang for what he'd done, for all the pain he'd caused.

Eliza's gaze was firmly fixed on the floor in front of them. William just stared at her. She was so beautiful to him, not that he could ever really bring himself to tell her that. She looked so sad and he detested it. He never could stand to see her hurt or upset.

One of the reasons he'd kissed her all those years ago was because he hated that she was crying. He'd not planned it at the time. It wasn't even like kissing her was something he'd thought about doing before that evening. It was a spur of the moment kiss. It just sort of happened.

She was crying in his arms when her dog was run over and he'd leaned in and kissed her to make her feel better, to stop her tears. Only it had seriously backfired when after a few moments of believing she was accepting and perhaps even enjoying the kiss, she'd regained her senses and slapped his cheek as hard as she could.

He'd been terrified of what Henry might have thought, when she angrily accused him of taking advantage of her situation. He'd tried to brush it off as just a simple innocent chaise kiss, to try and save some of his own dignity, which only seemed to infuriate her more as she stormed off to her bedroom in a rage.

He wondered if she knew that he'd spent weeks worrying about what Henry would do to him when he found out that he'd kissed her, only she never told her father. To this day, he had never had worked out why she hadn't.

Watching her now, it would have been so easy with his free hand to brush her cheek with his thumb, pull her close, kiss her to try make her feel better, it would probably make him feel better too, but he was certain that she'd probably slap him again if he tried even now.

"I should go," he eventually said softly. "Let you get some rest." He knew it was late, and she must be as tired as he felt. It had been days since either of them had last slept properly.

"You should get some rest too," she returned, and William just smirked, shaking his head. He knew she didn't want his concern, she never did.

Eliza slowly and slightly reluctantly slipped her hand from his as they both stood up.

"Can you do me one thing?" He asked, as they started a slow walk out her drawing room and into the hallway.

"What's that?" She asked, silently making no promises to him.

"Next time you want to go searching an abandoned old prison or building, don't go by yourself, take someone with you." Eliza turned round stopping in the hallway and fixed him with a hard glare.

"If I had come to you and said, William, come and search Woolwich prison with me, you would have told me I was crazy, and sent me off on my way."

"And you're right, I probably would have," William offered, mainly because he knew what she was saying was true. "But, now, on this occasion, you were right and something was going on there. So next time, come and tell me, I might just listen…"

In her head Eliza just laughed, William never just listened to her. He need her to jump through hoops and give him facts and proof before he'd listen to her, and she was sure that wasn't going to change any time soon.

"I will hold you to that you know," she assured him, and William knew, and perhaps even hoped, she would hold him to it.

He collected his coat from her hat stand and placed it over his arm, and picked up his hat.

"Will you come by Scotland Yard tomorrow?" he asked her as they reached the front door.

Eliza took a moment, by morning every officer at Scotland Yard would know what Frank had done, and that he had killed her father. She wasn't sure she was quite ready to deal with that yet.

"Oh… I … think I'll give it a miss tomorrow, if you don't mind."

William understood, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little disappointed that she wouldn't be turning up unexpectedly at his office. He had actually quite enjoyed her company the last few days, even if the circumstances weren't ideal.

"I'll need your witness statement for Frank's arrest at some point," he reminded her. They also needed to work out what they were both going to say that kept Moses out of it.

"I'll work on it at my office tomorrow if that's okay with you."

William nodded, he wasn't looking forward to having to deal with Frank in the morning. Somehow he was going to need to keep his anger in check, and he wasn't sure if that was even possible given how he felt now. He opened the door to leave.

"William…" Eliza stopped him for a moment. "Give Frank hell for me."

"Don't worry, I plan to," he nodded with a smile.

"And thank you… for not keeping me in line." Eliza shrugged.

William raised his eyebrows and chuckled at her. She'd heard through the door what Frank had said to him, clearly.

"If Frank knew you better, he'd know that's an impossible task," he said, with a grin that lit up his eyes and she could only return with her own genuine smile.

"Good night Eliza," he finally offered with a nod of his head.

"Good night William." She whispered, smiling as he closed her front door behind him.

The quiet of the house was suddenly deafening, as she stood in the hallway waiting to listen to the sound of the horses' hoofs on the ground outside taking William home. Finally alone, she rolled her shoulders and let out a heavy sigh. Truly exhausted she slowly climbed her stairs up to bed.

The End.


End file.
